Manchester United 1-2 Real Madrid: red card allows Real to take control

March 6, 2013

The starting line-ups

Manchester United’s starting strategy nullified Real Madrid’s main threats, but Jose Mourinho reacted quickly after United went down to ten.

Sir Alex Ferguson left out Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa, favouring Nani and Ryan Giggs on the flanks. Tom Cleverley started in place of Phil Jones, while Jonny Evans dropped to the bench as Ferguson favoured the old-school Ferdinand-Vidic partnership.

Jose Mourinho named his expected side. Gonzalo Higuain was upfront rather than Karim Benzema, Raphael Varane continued at centre-back.

Sadly, we were denied a chance to see how the 11 v 11 game would play out – Real had looked impotent until Nani’s red card, and it would have been fascinating to see how they tried to break down United in the final half hour.

Ferguson selection

The headline news from the pre-match teamsheets was the lack of Rooney. It was a surprise, but once you thought about the decision for a few moments, it wasn’t illogical. First, when Ferguson fielded Rooney, Kagawa and Danny Welbeck behind Robin van Persie in the first leg, Rooney was the only one of the trio that didn’t get a turn supporting the Dutchman – Kagawa started there, then Welbeck switched with him for the second half. Rooney was Ferguson’s third choice in the support striker role.

Second, Rooney’s defensive job at the Bernabeu was terrible – he switched off for Real’s three best chances, and therefore it was understandable Ferguson didn’t want to use him in a wide role, either. It was still a surprise decision, but it wasn’t unreasonable.

Instead, United had Giggs’ discipline on the right, and Nani on the left – which is essentially the ‘free’ position against Real Madrid, as Alvaro Arbeloa is their weakest player.

Ronaldo

Real played their usual gameplan, with their expected XI, and were the side that needed to score. Therefore, this was all about how Ferguson would react to their style, and stopping two key players was his priority.

First, Rafael stuck tightly to Cristiano Ronaldo, tracking him inside as he made runs in very central positions. When he became a second centre-forward, he was picked up by United’s centre-backs, but when trying to find space to shoot from between the lines, Rafael was hot on his feels.

This meant Giggs had to track Fabio Coentrao, and he did a much better defensive job than Rooney at the Bernebeu, despite an early foul giving Ronaldo a chance to shoot from the resulting free-kick.

Alonso

But even more important was the defensive job Welbeck did on Xabi Alonso. He stuck tightly to the former Liverpool player at all times, preventing him getting any time on the ball, and forcing him into simple, negative passes out to the full-backs, rather than long diagonal balls to the wingers, or intelligent forward passes into central positions. Because of that, Real struggled to get into a good passing rhythm and their attacking quartet had little influence on the first half.

Instead, the freest player was Sami Khedira, who was sometimes pressed by Tom Cleverley, but not permanently because Cleverley also had to protect the back four, and therefore remain deep. Khedira knocked a good pass over the defence to Ronaldo for a half-chance, but Ferguson would have been entirely happy to give Khedira, rather than Alonso, Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria or Mesut Ozil time on the ball in midfield.

Counter-attacking threat

United offered a threat on the break, too, with the attackers breaking past their direct opponent immediately when possession was won.

Again, Welbeck was the best example of this – he sped past Alonso (who, as the holding player, often had to let him go in order to close down the United player in possession) and combined nicely with Van Persie. The Dutchman’s movement towards play dragged one of the Real centre-backs out, and Welbeck could charge into some promising positions in the space created.

Giggs, too, offered a counter-attacking option on the break, and Nani did OK running at Arbeloa. Van Persie was quiet, but his movement was decent.

If there was one player you didn’t expect to be joining the charge, considering his defensive job against Ronaldo, it was Rafael. But he made two important forward runs – one was halted by Sergio Ramos’ challenge on the edge of the box towards the end of the first half (Cleverley and Michael Carrick immediately covered the right-back zone, with Nani also tucking in), and the second was in the build-up to United’s opener on 48 minutes.

United were relatively conservative at corners, pushing only four men into the box – but had the first half’s best chance when Nemanja Vidic hit the post. They were still troubled by the threat of the counter, however, as seen when Patrice Evra cynically hauled down Di Maria to prevent a quick break. Di Maria was later injured and replaced by Kaka, with Ozil going right.

10 v 11

The line-ups after Nani's red card, and Mourinho brought on Modric for Arbeloa, moving Khedira to right-back

Clearly, Nani’s red card – the merits of which can be debated elsewhere – completely changed the situation in the game. Not only were United down to ten men, they also had to drop Welbeck back from his support striker role into Nani’s left-sided midfield position, in order to preserve their second bank of four.

The result was that Alonso was now free, and within minutes he launched a fantastic long diagonal out to Ronaldo on the left, a more imaginative pass than he’d managed in the entire first half. United probably should have dropped Van Persie onto Alonso permanently, and left the centre-backs spare.

A more ambitious policy would have been to leave Arbeloa free at right-back, but this wasn’t a possibility because of Mourinho’s immediate substitution.

Modric

Mourinho always reacts quickly – to his own side’s goals, to opposition goals, and to red cards. Luka Modric replaced Arbeloa, with Khedira going to right-back.

It hasn’t worked out for Modric in Madrid so far, but he’s often been a decent supersub in big games with his passing quality, bursts of energy to keep the pressing high, and dribbling ability (he beat an opponent four times in his half an hour on the pitch – no other player did so more than twice in the entire game), so there was every chancehe could make an impact here. It was crucial that he went into Khedira’s role – Khedira had been the player being afforded space in the first half, remember – and from there he prompted some excellent passing sequences, and scored the equaliser with a brilliant long-range strike.

Real dominate

From then, Real were in the ascendency, and the quartet of Modric, Alonso, Ozil and Kaka retained the ball superbly. Real’s strategy was great with a numerical superiority – they stretched the play with Khedira and Coentrao, yet didn’t resort to hopeful crosses into the box, which would have played into the hands of United’s two centre-backs.Instead, they concentrated on intricate passing moves, and got their reward quickly with Ronaldo’s winner.

With Real 2-1 up, and United needing two goals, the game turned again. Mourinho took off Ozil and brought on Pepe to play right-back, allowing Khedira back into midfield. Ferguson made three attacking changes – Rooney for Cleverley, Ashley Young for Welbeck, Antonio Valencia for Rafael – in the final 20 minutes.

United’s shape was ramshackle and risked conceding a goal on the break, but that wasn’t particularly relevant at this stage. Diego Lopez was forced into a couple of good saves, but more notable than United’s late strategy was Real’s complete lack of shape – they weren’t compact enough without the ball, with the defence sitting very deep, but the midfield strung out across the pitch, inviting pressure. Gonzalo Higuain went to the right, allowing Ronaldo to become a threat on the break, but it remained 2-1.

Conclusion

At 11 v 11 Ferguson got the better of Mourinho – by using Welbeck to stop Alonso distributing the ball from midfield, United were rarely threatened by Real’s attacking quartet. The use of Giggs on the right was also broadly a success, and as Real pushed forward, United countered at speed, and were probably more of a goal threat.

After Nani’s red card, credit must go to Mourinho. He reacted both immediately and intelligently, with Modric the perfect player to thrive on the extra room in midfield. Alonso also became a greater influence, and it quickly became clear United would be forced to cope with constant Real pressure, which eventually proved decisive.

“… but when trying to find space to shoot from between the lines, Rafael was hot on his feels.”

Either this was a typo or there was a lot more emotion in this game for Ronaldo than initially anticipated. Just in case you wanted to correct it.

Pedantry ftw

Lucas on March 6, 2013 at 4:45 am

lool

Alexander Green on March 6, 2013 at 12:39 am

What a wonderful analysis. I think I’m going to put a tenner on you to manage a silverware winning side within 10 years.

JC on March 6, 2013 at 1:18 am

At the very least he needs to get a job as a tactics analyst on TV, god knows the people occupying those jobs couldn’t be worse, not to take anything away from you ZM!

Lior on March 6, 2013 at 6:48 pm

As Morinho said “the best team lost”
Say no more.

Eddie on March 7, 2013 at 5:29 am

there is a need to say more. How many times have we seen 10V11 go the other way? Chelsea at Barca last years semi springs to mind. It takes a sharp mind to capitalize on numbers up as teams sit deeper and make it hard to break them down. United at home one goal up with an away goal even with 10 men could have been a tough task to beat. JM is the master at taking advantage of situations. Best team lost? Maybe. But 1-2 at OT is a fine result and that’s all that matters.

Robert on March 9, 2013 at 6:26 pm

Sorry, but can people please stop using Chelsea-Barca as an example of how to defend with 10 men against a good side. Messi missed a penalty, if that goes in then Chelsea have to come out and score and no one would be talking about great Chelsea’s stand. Barca also were very unlucky, a couple of posts if I remember correctly. Even die hard Chelsea fans will admit they were very lucky to win that tie. Which is what you need to win the CL. It was not that hard to break them down, Cech made great save, they blocked a lot of shots.

Real on the other hand did not create 20 chances against 10 men, they scored with a great shot off the post and a wonderful move. after that they sat back. And yes, even against ten and considering the circumstances, it was a fine result for Real.

Chris on March 6, 2013 at 12:43 am

It sickens me when a fabulous game of football is ruined by a refereeing decision. It happens far too often for my liking, in all the leagues but especially in Europe.

Jack on March 6, 2013 at 1:10 am

European refs just don`t see the need to rescue ferg & co.

Alan on March 6, 2013 at 3:04 am

Yeah they certainly did need rescuing when they were 1-0 up and comfortable :/

ChessWriter on March 6, 2013 at 6:26 am

The Red card was rightly given.

So what, if they don’t give such cards in the premier league. Players must be protected and the threshold for cards in England should go down.

In Spain, that would have been a red card.

Anna on March 6, 2013 at 10:29 am

Except the Spanish commentators and Marca also argued it was harsh and that the foul was at worst, a yellow. Umm, I think I had trust their word.

sebastian on March 6, 2013 at 1:50 pm

red card was an awful decision, clearly Nani had no intention of hurting REal’s player

LOL celegorma, that “red card” was rescinded, it’s in the article I posted, everyone agreed that it was not a red and the ref made a mistake, two in fact, because Gibson’s was similar, both were rescinded.

JC on March 6, 2013 at 1:21 am

Every year there’s at least one match between high profile teams that ends up with a controversial call deciding the tie, it’s worrying.

Johnz on March 6, 2013 at 1:27 am

From our couch we all can see what happenes from 5-6 angles immediately after the action took place, why can’t referees use the images that are available? This is about so much money (and about the passion and feelings of so many people), you can’t just leave this to coincidence, to a referee being well-positioned or not, taking a decision in a split-second. The technolgy is there, why don’t they just use it?

Robert on March 6, 2013 at 11:47 am

Funny thing, live, from my couch, I thought it was Arbeloa who hit Nani and when I saw the ref walking over I thought “oh no, it’s not a card you blind cretin, it was accidental contact, both were going for the ball.” I thought that Ramos was going over to the ref to argue against Arbeloa being booked. And then I saw the replay. After several I thought a yellow to Nani would be harsh actually. When he gave the red I was absolutely shocked. How in the world could he have seen violent conduct, excessive force or serious foul play? It was a shocking decision. According to this ref a keeper punching a player in the head is ok when the keeper misses the ball (and I do get why nothing is ever called, even if blatant like this). But no overhead kick should be allowed ever I guess, because as Roy Keane said, there are players around, so you can’t raise your leg for any reason. Wonder what Crouch thinks of that?

Anyway, tactics. Wow, Fergie got it spot on, everything worked. Real had a couple of chances, but nothing major. In fact it was United who looked likely to score. Very controlled game by United till the red. And Giggs and his role in his 1000th game (ONE THOUSANDTH) just unreal. Amazing. He was picked over the best England has to offer and did his job brilliantly against one of two best in the world and a fullback who is not too shabby himself. And here I have a little bone to pick with Mr. Cox, Giggs’ assignment was Contrao yes, but that was not the reason why he was on the right mainly, it was Ronaldo. He was there to help Rafael deal with Ronaldo. That was his main worry. It was clear to see when Ronaldo switched wings, actually went to the middle I think, and either Higuain or Ozil moved to the RW. Nani followed DiMaria and moved to his RW for a few minutes. When Ronaldo was back on the LW, so was Giggs. A bit anal of me, but still, I somehow noticed that as I was surprised to see Nani on United’s RW.

A day before the game, talking to a mate, I thought it would be a good idea to play Nani. Not for Rooney mind, but for either Kagawa or RVP. RVP has been poor lately, still makes runs, but is not anywhere near as dangerous as he was a month or so ago. That is aside from not scoring. Perhaps one thing that Fergie got wrong was not play Rooney instead of van Persie. Kagawa or Nani is a tossup IMO. While Kagawa had his best game for United on Saturday, he is a much less effective player out wide IMO. So either made a bit of sense.

United fell apart after the red. It was shock IMO. Everyone was so gobsmacked about the sending off that United lost it’s initiative as well as concentration. Perhaps Fergie should have made a couple of substitutions right then and there. Nothing tactical really, just put on fresher legs who would not be as shocked as the 10 on the pitch at the time of the card. Maurinho made his change right away. And as soon as they got their goal he sat Benzema down, who was ready to come on, and after the second he threw in Pepe. I am guessing Fergie was just as shocked as the players, and likely fuming (well, not likely, he WAS) and like the players, he lost the plot for a bit. That was United’s undoing, other than the idiot ref. As soon as Modric scored with that shot it was over. United would not have lasted through extra time to get to penalties. Nor would they score if Madrid kept pressing. I just didn’t see it happening.

As for your original suggestion, I am a purist, for goal line technology, but against replays, or video judges. However, over the past few season my opposition is melting. I do still have one huge objection to a video ref. The parameters. What would get replayed. Everything has consequences. A bad offside call, sometimes a foul that is not called, or a corner given instead of a goal kick, or the wrong throw in. Where would it stop?

Watch the full buildup before to after the tackle. The red was probably justified, as Nani delived a high sharp challenge and dived afterwards. From afar its clear that that kind of sharp fall isn’t possible without power, which isn’t justified if you’re just trying to control the ball. Then Nani’s dive probably ticked off the ref for trying to pull some heavy gamesmanship.

If he had just stayed on his feet I suspect it would have just been yellow, despite the fact the challenge wasn’t so dissimilar to De Jong’s against Alonso.

stephan on March 6, 2013 at 4:17 am

maybe you should move closer to get a better view

jsj on March 6, 2013 at 7:42 am

Another couch potato passing his opinion. Nani clearly meant no harm or foul play and according to the law he didn’t satisfy everything to be given a red card

timothy on March 6, 2013 at 11:52 am

lol arent you a couch potato then ? how many times in the EPL have straight red cards be given when the player meant no harm or foul play too? Think two-footed tackles as the best example.

Anyone with a brain would know that 85% of straight red cards are meant without no harm or foul play, but they are still given, because of the danger. Nani had no reason to raise his legs so high up to get a ball in mid air in the first place.

Paul Scholes was sent off in the FA cup against Manchester City for a similar challenge 1-2 seasons back, studs hitting the thigh of zableto. MU fans didnt complain that much that time because they were already being owned by City, but they are now, just because they were winning and in a comfortable position. Since both of the challenges were so similar, why are they drawing different opinions from MU fans?

Typical MU fans , delusional as always.

jsj on March 6, 2013 at 3:20 pm

lame argument. how do you control that ball without raising your foot?? as I said its not a red as per the law and the ref got it wrong. two footed tackles on standing foot are worse than this where both players were in the air. there’ no point arguing with city fans since they dont know what champions league football is about as they hardly played in it and second they are nobodys without the oil money.

celegorma on March 6, 2013 at 6:30 pm

Nani turned checked his right and did saw Arbeloa coming. He still decided to raise his boots to win the ball. Its a risk he took and he would have got away if he got to the ball first but he did not. Of course its not intentional, but dangerous play is dangerous play. Nani knew he is going to get punished or else he wouldn’t have fell holding his knees. Both his feet were above the ground, therefore its a 2 footed challenge by the rules. An experienced defender would have went in with his head to win the ball. Nani got sent off because of his inexperience.

jsj on March 6, 2013 at 7:30 pm

there are no replays that show he saw the player. You are talking as if you are arbeloa and he saw you and kicked you. There is a lot of ambiguity on that incident and that is why its not a red may be a yellow.
And FYI two footed tackles are those where both the feet touch the defender. Its not the case here.
But i give it to you that mourinho out thought ferguson after that red card. Ferguson must have acted quickly and made the subs. That is one regret he will have

jon on March 6, 2013 at 11:15 am

Yeah it was sickening when Real had a perfectly good goal disallowed in the first half and when Rafael’s handball went unpunished (a red and penalty should have been given).

Ruined the game.

Stickneyite on March 8, 2013 at 1:24 am

Ramos had a clear hand ball in the box late in the game in addition to a PK worthy tackle so Rafael’s infraction was at least covered by two other ref misses

Nick on March 6, 2013 at 12:48 am

Real Madrid, as a club, were so preoccupied with beating Barcelona that they failed to realize that at worst they are the 3rd best team in the world and only Barcelona, Ajax, and Arsenal are the few clubs who will consistently play a high line and give them space. If they don’t have space and can’t counter they look completely lost. Khedira and Di Maria struggle if they can’t counter and Khedira is so slow on the ball.

Itachi on March 6, 2013 at 1:19 am

Brilliantly, put!

Azulgrana on March 6, 2013 at 12:49 am

On the question of Real being impotent before the red card. I agree that they were not at their usual level of potency, largely because they are most dangerous on transitioning from defence to attack on the counter (Which UTD didn’t let them do once), but they had genuine chances on goal, I think at one point before the OG UTD had 8 shots 5 on target whereas RM had 7 shots 6 on target, with one of those chances being Ronaldo on a 1v1 situatikn with Vidic I think. So I’m not entirely sure its safe to say the game would have finished 1-0 to UTD had there been no sending off. In fact I’m pretty sure Madrid would have found the equaliser and the game would have gone to extra time.

In my opinion a pretty even game. What do you think about perhaps fielding Alonso and Modric from the start to help relieve the pressure on the former when teams do man-mark him like that? Would Modric help provide another outlet and thus free up even more space for Alonso? Just a thought.

Exactly my thoughts! Modric – Alonso would provide such a creativity from the deep midfield. The problem is who is gonna sit on the bench instead Modric – the only player is Di Maria because of his position in my opinion.

I don’t doubt Real would have still put up a fight, but really, I have to disagree fully. Utd were comfortable until the red card, they panicked after it for about 10 minutes, and then regrouped and actually looked better even playing with 10 than Real playing with 11. Even Mourinho agreed.

But that’s the point – isn’t it? We never got to find out because of the sending off, which killed the excitement of the game as a competition.

I don’t doubt Real Madrid fans such as credoparusia have faith in their team, but the trouble is that we are left with only that and not the actual match to look at.

It’s irrelevant how they looked after RM scored two…United was in desperation mode. That game time had no relevance on what happened before or what would have happened in an 11 v 11 situation. As for Mourinho, he’s obviously trying to motivate his team. You see coaches do that all the time. I wouldn’t look too much to that comment either.

Fact is, no one know how the game would have progressed. Who knows if United could have maintained composure and discipline once fatigue set in. One issue with SAF’s lineup is the bench was extremely offensively focused. If he were hanging onto a 1-0 lead I doubt we’d have seen many subs. Could an aged United XI maintain the effort to hold down Real for 90 minutes? No one knows.

ruudrocks on March 6, 2013 at 7:34 am

aged united XI? giggs, ferdinand, vidic and evra were the only players over 30

Richard on March 7, 2013 at 9:50 am

That’s 3/4 of the defence, which is the point I think SoccerSaber is trying to make.

Tha Shi Cra on March 6, 2013 at 9:09 am

Alonso and Modric is a tad on the light side, i know alonso can put a tackle in but I cant imagine he will get much help from modric. It reminds me of aretea and wilshere, descent combination but prone to powerful runs through the middle.

I suppose, they have a solid partnership behind them, but I would be worried about Welbeck/van Persi with abit more space compared to if Khedira was playing

Robert on March 6, 2013 at 12:00 pm

In the CL it wouldn’t work, not against sides that can keep the ball. But against weaker La Liga sides it could work. Then Real would actually look like they have a plan be and can play possession football and not just wait and try to kill teams off the counter. Modric can play alongside just one midfielder. I don’t think he works all that well when he plays for Ozil. He is not a pure attacking midfielder like Ozil is. But Modric can defend, At Spurs he did play with only one midfield partner and it worked well. Alonso then has to become more defensive, like Carrick, no more sexy football, no 20 crossfield 50 yard passes per game, but steady build up, short passes and staying back to protect the back 4. Modric might work better with Khedira actually in a 2 man midfield. Though whether he would be as good as Alonso… Not sure Madrid have the patience to find out. Not many players there get time to find their role.

KC on March 6, 2013 at 1:03 am

Great analysis as always. Was wondering though Michael do you believe United were definitely the better side before the sending off? I know it’s easy to say yes due to them being 1-0 up but didn’t Real have more possession and more shots on target before the sending off? Surely if anything that shows that whilst United may have been on top, they were on top by a small margin.

For me Modric coming on and Kaka coming on earlier was very important, as you say the midfield dominance after was crucial.

I predicted United to go through to be honest and without the sending off I think they probably would have, honestly how do you beat a team playing two banks of four when the defensive shape is that sturdy? So many teams seem to struggle with that

Ronaldo seemed very quiet, one thing I noticed is that Di Maria seemed to be more successful against Rafael than Ronaldo was, that’s why I thought if he couldve stayed on and drifted left more often so Ronaldo could drift central Real might have had some success later on.

Kenji on March 6, 2013 at 11:22 am

Real had more possession and shots, but they still struggled with creating great chances. United seemed more dangerous when they got their opportunities.

Johnz on March 6, 2013 at 1:03 am

Much talk about Barcelona not having a plan “B”, but this Madrid doesn’t seem to have one either. Mourinho knew what was coming, but he didn’t seem to have prepared anything. Tactically, the man is so poor. Counter-attacking with his multi-billion team is the only option. Of course he can always count on his plan “R”, the referee. Ronaldo totally missing. Give him no space, and he’s a totally medicocre player who can’t even dribble my gran.

Ferguson prepared things perfectly, impressive display from United until the red card. Only observation: Van Persie again didn’t show up in Europe (nor does he with his national team), that spot should have been for Rooney, really.

A shame football lost again. When will they allow video-refereeing, what’s holding them? We and the press should be talking about a great game of football.

Anonymous on March 6, 2013 at 1:21 am

Johnz, i think your bias has caused you some dimentia, lol.

“Mourihno…tactically the man is so poor”
“of course he can always count on his plan R, the referee”

I think Madrid has had 10 or 11 sending off this year while MAn U has had ZERO. Not sure how much Mourihno has paid for that ref, but he’s not getting his money’s worth.

Although I agree with you that Mou didn’t come out with a good plan this match. I thought it was rather even before the red and not some crazy one sided affair, but still, United did not need to score, they could afford to play that 2 rows of 4 at the back. It was Mou’s job to come out and attack, and i think the key was Modric and Benz. Why he didn’t have Modric play INSTEAD of Alonzo and Benz instead of Higuain is beyond me. MOdric was the key in this game and he deserves to start from now on.

REgarding the red, while i wish it wouldn’t have happened, it is a red card pure and simple. Whenever you kick an opponent player in the chest/stomach with your STUDS –no, not the side of the boot, not the tip, not the top, but the bottom with your studs –you are obviously endangering a player. This is not rocket science. That said, i agree with video reffing.

obtuse on March 6, 2013 at 1:31 am

You, sir, have no idea what you are writing about.

tMe on March 6, 2013 at 8:24 am

Apart from calling Mourinho tactically poor (and the thing about the ref) he’s spot on. “Against Real madrid, you just give them the ball” a spanish player said, don’t remember which team.

This is how Mourinho builds his teams, supertough in defense, amazing on the counter. Real Madrid rarely break down high level teams when they can’t counterattack.

I’d love to see how many dribbles Ronaldo complete these days, surely it can’t be as many as it was during his time in Manchester united. Used to love that player back then. These days, he’s essentially a number 9 playing on a flank. Full speed ahead, shoots from 50 yards 10 times per game. Beats players from sheer speed rather than dribbles.

Brilliant finisher, but far far from the great minds of football. The guy is not even top 10 in the world when it comes to playmaking. Give him the ball and point him to the goal and he will probably put it there at some point. But he’s not going to create brilliant plays from nothing like the likes of Zidane, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldinho… hell, even Ozil is far and beyond him.

Uli on March 6, 2013 at 1:04 pm

That is the key: Ronaldo is a great “goalscorer”, one of the best ever, but as a “player”, he really isn’t up there with the best. His luck is that these days stats have gained a lot of influence in how people see players, and of course goal stats are the main stats shown everywhere, so that is why he is considered a top-top player. Comparing him with Messi is correct from a goalscoring point of view (although Messi has actually even passed him in that area), but when you look at other aspects of the game (dribbling, assisting, playmaking) it’s almost a scandal everyone talks about those two as “the two best players in the world”. There’s one best, Messi, and Ronaldo can fight it out with Van Persie, Falcao, Ozil, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, Suarez, Xavi, etc for second place, really.

jsj on March 8, 2013 at 2:08 am

well said

Harvey on March 6, 2013 at 1:14 am

Nice article – insightful. I always love seeing what Mourinho does when ’something happens’ as 9/10 he gets it right, and putting Khedira at right-back (well, right wing-back) to accommodate Modric was class.

Alf on March 6, 2013 at 5:13 am

But Mourinho’s initial plan, or lack thereof, was very poor and it wasn’t until “something (controversial and unfair) happened” that he made good decisions.

Jordan on March 6, 2013 at 6:30 pm

In life in general, and especially in football, being able to recognize and seize short windows of opportunity is very important, and knowing how to best take advantage of those opportunities. Mou definitely took perfect advantage of the man advantage. I know it seems silly to say, but the truth is a lot of good teams even with the man advantage may not have scored 2.

Fergie def had the better tactics for the 11v11, but he failed to react well to being down a man, he should have parked the bus on the 1 goal lead, seeing as how Madrid fails to breakdown parked buses, there entire game is based on speed and movement, transitions, positioning. They need space to operate, and they are at their best playing at high speed.

I think the only thing Fergie didn’t do well, was he should have played ultra deep and ultra defensive (think Inter 2010 against Barca) for the last 40 mins.

KC on March 6, 2013 at 1:22 am

Also is Fergie the most tactically astute manager? Seems to be one of the best for sure, especially in the Premier league. Miles ahead of Wenger, Mancini etc

Johnz on March 6, 2013 at 1:30 am

Not a fan of Ferguson, but have to say he really impressed me tonight. The plan was extremely solid, and the players seemed to know very well what was expected from them at every moment. He totally outclassed Mourinho and he deserved more, you can understand why he was gutted at the end and didn’t show up for the press conference. With Madrid out, Barcelona almost out, this would have looked very good for Man United, and he possibly won’t get many more chances like this one to add another Champions League to his trophy list.

Sage on March 6, 2013 at 3:40 am

I think United had the better plan coming into the game and executed well. In particular, I was impressed by how well United dominated the flanks with Welbeck,Giggs, Evra, and Rafael. Once the red card happened I think Mou showed that he could react better tactically to the change.

It’s true that the team with 11 players has the advantage, but it was surprising to me that United didn’t make any changes in direct responses to the Kaka & Modric changes which were clearly meant to improve attack down the center. He didn’t even make a change when Madrid scored the 1st goal, but waited until the end to go on an overload tactic with 3 subs.

setak on March 6, 2013 at 6:48 am

Exactly, that is a perfect point.. Manci(ni-ty) even would have relished the challenge.. clean sheet for 30 minutes with 10 men with 3 at the back .. And Man utd never seem to be able to play with 10 men..

celegorma on March 6, 2013 at 6:39 pm

Chelsea played with 10 against Barca in Camp Nou.
Fergie simply failed to plan ahead in case this kind of accidents happen. He didn’t even make a sub right after the send off, but waited till they conceded a goal.

Kuvajt on March 6, 2013 at 1:55 am

I doubt that both sir Alex and Jose are tactical geniuses. Yes Ferguson got it good this time but his team crumbled just a couple of minutes after they have seen red. It’s not the thing you would expect from a team searching for CL glory.

Nick’s comment I think is also spot on. I can easly see Real struggling against some tough and very organized defence, and there’s a lot of teams comfortable sitting deep and soaking up preassure. Should Real be drawn against a stubborn Italian team, then we could see both Spanish giants knocked out of it by tactiacly well prepared teams. A tie against Juve or Milan will be a ultimate test for Mourinho’s tactical knoweladge.

Sage on March 6, 2013 at 3:54 am

Between this tie and the Dortmund ties we’ve seen plenty of consistent weaknesses in Madrid’s game to sincerely doubt their CL chances.

1) Like Barca, Madrid lack a level of physicality which works against them when games get scrappy.
2) Like Barca, though less pronounced, the wingbacks are among their most vulnerable positions.
3) Madrid’s attack is very wasteful. In most games, neither of the strikers are consistent enough to be taken as serious threats. The most direct goalscorers are Ronaldo followed by Di Maria, so when Ronaldo is well marked and the defenders are well positioned, all we see are a crazy amount of shots on goal with no actual goals.

But personally I’d love to see them tie against Juve. Aside from being a real test of Juve’s 5-defense tactic and Madrid’s efficiency, we’ll see whether Juve can actually deal with horizontal movements well. Italian sides tend to play narrow, so Juve’s width may be a relative novelty in Serie A, but I wonder if they’ve mastered width enough to actually deal with the wide play which Madrid & Bayern are so good at.

João André on March 6, 2013 at 8:46 am

Actually I do not think Juventus (or other Italian teams) would be much of a challenge. Their width comes from the wingbacks and these would effetively be pinned back by players such as Ronaldo and Di Maria. From that point on, the battle would take place in midfield and the biggest threat Juve would offer would come from midfield runners (Vidal and Marcchisio). Still, with Juve’s game based around possession, I think they would be perfect opponents for Real to face. They could sit deep (Juve’s strikers are well below par as goalscorers), invite pressure and then break forward in fast conterattacks taking advantage of the advanced positions of the wingbacks.

A much bigger challenge would be posed (again) by Bayern or Borussia. The truth is, there are few teams which can tactically (or individually) challenge Real at this moment. Bayern seem the strongest contenders, IMO.

Rajesh on March 6, 2013 at 10:30 am

Until that red card MU, really, did challenge RM tactically. What did RM had to offer till then. How many saves did De Gea had to make till then.

These days, Mourinho’s teams always gets a big decision in every big match.

João André on March 6, 2013 at 10:50 am

I did not say United did not challenge Madrid. They were the best team on the night and wasted a great opportunity to go through. I just said that for the next round, Juve may not be that much of a challenge because of the shape. Still, of course, I may be wrong.

As for the big decisions, I am not going to discuss them that much. I agree Nani probably should not have been sent off. But I can see why the ref thought he should. As for the penalty call against Barcelona on Saturday, I was not 100% sure of the contact (still, the image I had was not the best) and the Barcelona player (Adriano?) did not help his cause by throwing his leg up.

In any case, there is hardly a conspiracy for Real going on. On the course of the season (as many people argued better than me) these decisions even out (amongst big teams, note). What distinguishes great teams is how they deal with these situations. Still, it is perfectly possible Real is kicked out next round for an inexistent penalty which sees a player sent off. Who knows.

Kuvajt on March 6, 2013 at 12:02 pm

It’s interesting too say that Juve won’t be such a big challenge. We all know that Chelsea this season it’s not at their best, but I can’t forget the game in Turin. Chealsea played 4-2-3-1 which is fairly Real’s shape/system too. That game is well analysed on this site so I won’t be wasting more time on putting my arguments in this.

The real question is – are Real able to exercise that amout of possession against a side pressing high, than dropping deep with men behinnd the ball? – Something Milan did excellently against Barca. Preventing their build up from the back by pressing their centre-backs at goalkicks, than retreating back and defending with numbers when the ball is in their own third.

João André on March 6, 2013 at 12:48 pm

Hey, it’s just my opinion, I may be completely wrong, obviously. It could turn out that Juve would run out 4-0 winners on aggregate. I just doubt it because there are several differences between Chelsea and R. Madrid, the smallest of which is not the pure difference in quality of their main players. I will just dwell on one: Juventus like to have the ball and Real like to give the ball away.

Still, players like Buffon and Chiellini can shut down a Madrid side and Pirlo can hurt anyone if given time on the ball. Still, it’s a discussion to be had if these sides meet. Juve has enough to do tonight still.

Ds on March 6, 2013 at 1:59 am

United came prepared while Real did not. I just don’t see the latter besting Juventus or Bayern let alone Dortmund.

Anonymous coward on March 6, 2013 at 2:22 am

I can’t help but think in games like this that Mourinho should play Ramos at RB from the start,Arbeloa offers absolutely nothing going forward.And play Pepe at CB who is at least as good as Ramos.

Also I wonder how Mourinho would have changed things had Nani not been sent off? Would he have put Modric on for Khedira? Perhaps Modric on for Arbeloa like he did when United went down to 10? Or even Benzema on for Arbeloa? I have seen him do it before,when they need a goal he will often put a striker on for a defender.

If Madrid want to win the CL they need to learn to defend,honestly it’s embarrassing for Mourinho how poor they are defending.Not just in open play but set pieces.Ramos seems to get dragged out of position too easily,like he did for Uniteds goal today.Just watch on the build up,Ramos was put in a tough situation with Coentrao been beatan and the threat of a United play out wide but he should have stayed more central,protect the middle first,then worry about the wings.Also when Van Persie came deep it was obvious it was a deliberate tactic so Welbeck could run into the space which the Real CB leaves.This happened in the 1st leg too so why didn’t Mourinho tell his CB’s(mainly Ramos) to let their midfielders handle Van Persie when he came deep?

Robert on March 6, 2013 at 12:21 pm

He was a master of the tactical change at Chelsea, but he had a bigger variety of players in his squad. At Real there what can he change really? Kaka for Ozil? Similar. Not sure why they didn’t get a proper RB, how Arbeloa keeps playing there is beyond me. Alonso won’t defend, so taking Khedira off and putting Modric on against better sides could be suicidal. For all the money Real spent on so many players they don’t have as many different options as they could have. Tactically they are a fairly simple side, and as this La Liga campaign has shown, fairly easy to nullify. of course the quality of the players they do have means they can beat anyone by talent alone on their day, but it’s not a perfect side. Nor a very well balanced squad. Barca play one way, but are almost perfect at it, or were till a few weeks ago. But of the teams left Bayern look to be the most balanced team that also has quality, plus they have tactical variety and many different weapons. Juve would too, if only they had a couple of proper strikers. Everyone else left is good but limited by either squad depth, or tactics or quality.

Sage on March 6, 2013 at 5:22 pm

Madrid’s weakest position now is RB, and considering the rise of Varane as well as how well Essien has done as RB it makes more sense to keep Arbeloa as a sub rather than as a starter.

Ramos or Essien are probably both better RB’s than Arbeloa, and Varane + Pepe could be centerbacks.

Anonymous coward on March 7, 2013 at 11:03 am

I agree,Ramos should be playing at RB when you have Pepe who can come in.

A defense of Coentrao,Pepe,Varane,Ramos is one of the best in the world,Ramos would add much more quality than Arbeloa going forward.Teams just let Arbeloa have the ball.

Mb on March 6, 2013 at 2:37 am

As controversial as the red card may be, it cannot serve as an excuse. As you pointed out, it wasn’t necessary to leave xabi free; van persie can leave the CBs free and cover him. Also in more gemeral terms, losing one man doesn’t necessarily lead to the concession of two goals in 3 min! Nobody is stopping united from having a strategy when playing 10 v 11.

kevo on March 6, 2013 at 3:15 am

Well, when you are playing a side like RM where all of their attacking players are threatening… it’s pretty disappointing to have a man sent off. If ManU kept their usual plan and occupy Xabi, the rest of RM players would move forward and play behind that player.

After the sent off, ManU have to sit deeper to cover for the loss while RM had that extra man roaming forward.

Tom on March 6, 2013 at 2:39 am

Michael,

I agree that Welbeck on Alonso was an important part of United’s play. You say that Ferguson got the better of Mourinho with that tactic, but how could Mourinho have countered this?

Moving Khedira deep and Alonso forward would have made each player uncomfortable and Cleverley would have been the one to limit Alonso instead of Welbeck. Perhaps that move would’ve opened up some space in front of the back four, but it still wouldn’t be maximizing the strengths of Alonso and Khedira.

Z on March 6, 2013 at 10:54 am

I feel like Mourinho might have brought in Modric for Khedira even without the sending off, as Michael explained, Khedira had more time in the first half on the ball, but wasn’t quite as clinical as Alonso would have been, Modric would have given cleverly more of a hard time

Pieter K on March 6, 2013 at 2:42 am

Very good analysis.

I see some people shouting for video refereeing but that´s in my opinion not the problem.
The link to the article of graham poll about the red card says it all, Most referees don´t feel the game.
Graham Poll opens with: Nani’s dismissal might have looked harsh, but United were lucky Rafael didn’t see red too

I just was stunned when i read that, he totally goes by on the fact that the red card did change the game tremendously.

About the game itself, i see some people saying that the difference between real and manu wasn’t that big because real had more possession and also an even amount of shots on target.
And maybe the stats don’t support it but i think manu was definitely the better side till the red card, i would make it 60-40. Ferguson – mourinho was more like 90-10.
Real needed a briljant moment or a lucky one and the got the latest with nani being send off.

Individually real madrid is the far better team except of arbeloa (how the hell did he get there?) but somehow the rarely show their class, they still don’t have a solid gameplan and win most games because their is always one of the players (mostly ronaldo) who shows a flash of his talent and gets them the win.
Mourinho is still doing a very poor job as a tactical coach in my opinion, i think he doesn’t even get 60% of the potential out of his team.

Kevan on March 6, 2013 at 3:14 am

I think it was always going to be difficult to try to counteract both problems — the Barcelona problem, and the problem of lacking ideas in the final third agaginst teams who sit deep. When they won the league, the solved that problem by going to a back three and blunting the opposition, but this year it’s just looked harder for Madrid to create while also having that incredible counter attacking mentality that they’re so well known for. I just think its impossible to have solved both problems fully, and the inevitable tradeoffs are pretty obvious to see. They no longer fear Barca — some would say they even are better, but they also don’t have the creative spark to unlock teams that would do them very well against most of the lower sides in the league.

Also, tbh, most sides would have problems unlocking this man u side if they sat deep with ten behind the ball and just countered.

Scott on March 6, 2013 at 3:30 am

“United were lucky Rafael didn’t see red too”

Are you joking? First of all, That ball’s trajectory was heading towards Rafael’s face, which was about 2 inches behind his arm, so regardless of where his arm was, it would’ve been cleared off the line. Second of all, he was still mid-jump in the air and using one’s arm to gain vertical momentum is a very “natural” thing to do (as per the rule).

Real, however, were lucky Ramos didn’t concede at least one penalty on the night. While I think the referee got a lot of the small decisions correct, he sure as heck missed ALMOST all the big decisions.

Though at the end of the day, I will never forget the respect with which Real and Mourinho treated United and will always be grateful for that.

Sage on March 6, 2013 at 4:04 am

I have to say Ramos has generally been disappointing as a centerback over the last 5 games (including the one where he was a wingback since he earned a dumb red card).

This game was particularly hard because United kept harassing the defenders via Welbeck & Giggs, but Ramos personally made crucial errors that have gifted United & Barca goals over the last games.

I think this is due to his drop in pace, which previously allowed him to recover and fix mistakes better.

Adam K on March 6, 2013 at 4:08 am

He is quoting Graham Poll. Your reaction is misdirected.

And I think that a large part of Mourinho’s reaction is calculated as he is angling to succeed SAF.

Please post me to a single replay in which Ramos “almost” conceded a penalty. Both Welbeck’s and Rafael’s dives were soft with the latter lucky he didn’t get carded for simulation (he generated all the contact). The other tackle on Welbeck occurred well after he had lost control of the ball; if that’s a penalty, we’ll see 2-3 a game in the EPL.

The red card was questionable but it wasn’t as bad as many that have been seen. The other calls were completely justified.

samuel on March 6, 2013 at 8:13 am

how about t Ramos completely got Evra legs inside the penalty box instead of the ball.
keeper punch VIDIC on his head with both outside the 6 yards box

ballfever on March 6, 2013 at 9:52 am

well jumping on the goal line with arms extended is calling for such a call to be honest. Whether the ball would have hit his face or another part of his body is irrelevant. Defenders should act smarter (read more cautious) and the young Raphael still has things to learn. He was lucky not to concede a penalty and a red card.

Conversely, I agree with Ramos’ challenge at the end of the game. A penalty should have also been called there. And this is the second game in a row where he is committed a rash tackle in the box in the dying minutes of the game (he also tripped Adriano against Barca) and getting away with it.

Bryan on March 6, 2013 at 5:05 am

Informative and intelligent as always, a breath of fresh air on a hot, angry day. Thanks, Michael.

Alf on March 6, 2013 at 5:24 am

I was wondering if any mention of the red card would be made in your analysis ZM. I know you usually don’t like to mention referee decisions but it had such a dramatic impact tactically, it just couldn’t go without mentioning so thank you for making an exception.

It is truly disappointing we didn’t get to watch the contest of 11 vs 11 continue. The match was far more exciting and competitive up until the sending off and I too wonder how Mourinho would have coped being down a goal in the latter portion of the match. Alas, we will never know.

First Timer on March 6, 2013 at 6:11 am

Not a ManU (or PL) partisan here, but I disagree with ZM’s assessment of the second half. I confess I’m not sure which “tactical battle” Mourinho won. After the red card, his initial sub equalized from distance, off the post, versus a ten-man team. And ManU’s morale sagged long enough thereafter for Madrid to produce a (well-taken) go-ahead goal three minutes later. After that, however, United played as if possessed, with a ferocity that ultimately reduced Madrid to a fifteen-minute fire drill. Rooney carved through Madrid’s half almost at will, and was in every way as effective a sub as Modric.

Sometimes tactics, as we define the term, over-explain results in which luck played the greater role. A few different bounces in the final quarter-hour and either side wins the game by 3-2, among several possible scores.

Why ZM says he won the tactical battle is because he exploited the space of the extra man and Modric (the 2nd sub) is the type of player you’d want to give that extra space to. A 10-man team can’t cover the whole pitch, and Man U left the center of the pitch (particularly the space where Welbeck was marking Alonso in, which pushed him waaay back) and dropped deep. Therefore Mourinho put Modric in that space in front of United’s 2 CM’s and Ozil to the right where he can combine with Modric when he drifts there. Didn’t you see the way Modric changed the game for Real?
Another point I got from the game is Man U’s lack of tenacity in the middle. They don’t really have a midfielder who can win the ball efficiently, a la Tiote, Javi Martinez or Busquests (who is criminally under-rated IMO). Carrick is a passer and is better with interceptions, while Cleverly just doesn’t have that much ball-winning ability. Which begs the question: Why didn’t Anderson start this game? He has more tenacity and grit about his game than any of the CM’s who played this game and his running to the middle would also give a very good counter-attacking advantage.
and is this the 1st time RVP didn’t show up in Europe???

iomind on March 6, 2013 at 6:42 am

I really wonder why Modric didn’t start both games against Utd. The control he brings over games is invaluable against sides who look to counter. Plus, he is much more mobile and harder to mark than Alonso, and much better on the ball than Khedira.

Last night, he made a huge difference. Without him on the pitch I doubt Madrid would have won, even after the red card.

SAF went out well prepared to defend against Madrid and Man UTD looked very good until the red card. I do think the referee was spot on in this game and made the best decision. I got no clue why so many people think this referring was poor.

The turning point – the red card. Mou reacted instantly. Invited a playmaker in the mid to dictate the play and release his other playmakers – Kaka, Ozil, Alonso and switched his midfield runner to the right back to provide width. With 4 playmakers it was a matter of a time to create chances, especially against the tired 10 man side of Man UTD.

I am really surprised with SAF’s reaction. He kept his wide protection when it was obvious that real had only 1 man at the right. In my opinion Welbeck had to be replaced from either Rooney or Kagawa who’s job had to be protect Alonso and then keep freshening his team up with other subs. Even with Kaka’s sub Mou showed that he will try to attack trough the middle, while SAF kept defending the wings.

With no protection in the mid and having Man UTD’s midfielders staying to close to the defenders, Modric’s goal was waiting to happen.

Robert on March 6, 2013 at 12:40 pm

Sorry,what chances? Modric came on, they created a couple of half chances and then Modric wasn’t closed down quickly enough and scored through a perfect, unstoppable, shot. The second, which did come from a genius flick, was defended fairly well. United sat deep after Nani was sent off, but no one was really defending the wings on the two goals. There was very little space, again, Modric moved sideways, and scored on a perfect shot. The second goal was a few quick passes, a genius backheel flick from Ozil and a superb low cross. Only one who really could have stopped that was Rafael. But he was a moment too late, Ronaldo had it perfectly timed.

Fergie, like the rest of United, was in shock. You could see all the energy just sap from United when the red was shown. Above I mentioned that Fergie should have made immediate changes, but nothing would have stopped a shot like this. And after one it was over. United created chances with ten men only after Real inexplicably pulled back and started defending for no reason. It’s not that hard to keep 10 dejected players pushed back. Aside from kissing ass and acting as if he already applied for the manager’s job at OT, it’s why Maurinho said that the better team lost. Real were better for about 15 minutes of that match, after the red. And average to poor through out the rest.

Sage on March 8, 2013 at 5:21 pm

No, neither goal was particularly coincidental and ins is correct in the technical reason for why they occurred. Even before the card Mou subbed in Kaka because he realized United were dominating the flanks and that their opportunities would best come from the middle. Welbeck went out wide, but the 1st goal happened because Madrid’s attack line stretched the defense through their positioning (especially Higuain) and gave Modric a clearer shot at goal. The 2nd goal was from a low cross from Higuain–something which he had been doing all game to deliver final balls to Ronaldo. The reason it worked this time was because they had a spare man in Kaka to make and pick up runs down the center to occupy the central defenders.

Also note that accurate long-distant shooting is a consistent feature of Modric which probably attracted Madrid to him, because Xabi is the next closest player in the squad capable of doing that.

1. I was surprised Modric did not come in immediately after Di Maria’s departure. Mardid’s game had been crying out for a player like him since the 10th minute or so. The injury gave Mourinho the ideal excuse to bring him on. Still, the fast reaction was laudable (even if he was probably poised to go in with or without sending off).

2. Wellbeck and Giggs did a fantastic job, but the deployment of Nani on the left was also an excelent piece of tactics. Arbeloa is not very attacking, but frequently serves as an excellent passing outlet (a respite, as it were) for attacking moves on the right. With an attacking player such as Nani on the field, he hardly ever went past hte midefield line. Furthermore, Nani can be such a threat on the wing, especially in tandem with Evra, that Di Maria felt the need to provide extra cover. It was no accident that Madrid hardly ever started a move downb the right whilst Nani was on the field.

3. After the sending off, Ferguson did the logical thing to keep the team’s shape by moving Wellbeck left. Still, as some people already pointed, van Persie could have dropped to challenge Alonso (neither Ramos nor Varane offer much threat building up from the back). Alternatively, van Persie or Wellbeck could have been taken off for Young or Kagawa respectively. In which case Wellbeck could have continued his work on Alonso (with Young coming in for the Nani role) or Kagawa would have taken that job and van Persie gone in to the inside left position to either pin Khedira somewhat or take advantage of his runs. Kagawa in would have been my choice, as he is used to harry opponents in that area of the field, is intelligent and composed and adds excellent passing and movement.

In the end, Ferguson showed he knows how to prepare a team but is somewhat too wedded to his initial plans to change them. The final pressure on Real’s backline came more from typical United’s surges than actual tactical changes. Mourinho reacted well to his man advantage, but will have to do much better against other sides.

I thought that whilst Ferguson chose a good starting lineup he didn’t adjust after the red card and left us in a defensive mess. Instead of thinking/making subs he decided to act cheerleader. In the meantime Mourinho brought on Modric and before you could blink Madrid had two goals. What adjustments would you have made? I would have brought on Valencia for Giggs and Rooney for Cleverley. If anything fresh legs would have done us good plus I think it would have been a lift for the team to see Rooney running his socks off (and hopefully not getting a red!)

super dooper bilbao trooper on March 6, 2013 at 12:09 pm

Would have been interesting to see what happened if Sir Alex changed to a 4-3-1-1 after the sending off. The second Nani was dismissed I knew Wellbeck was going to move to the left, which would in turn free up Alonso and effectively decide the game. They could have played a Milan style diamond and perhaps taken cleverley or giggs off for kagawa or rooney. Hardly ideal, but it would mean that Alonso was still occupied and the space in front of the midfield wouldn’t have been so apparent.

Modric was inspired, he obviously had the space to play, but he was just the right player for this situation, with a deeper starting position harder to track. He just ghosted around and must have been a real nightmare to play against.

Rasengrün on March 6, 2013 at 12:10 pm

Rooney may have failed to deliver in the first leg, but surely he would have been a far better option upfront, when you’re one man down but your opponent still needs two goals? More aggression and range for starters. Also the energy of Kagawa would have helped quite a lot to keep Modric at bay, I’d think. Khedira wasn’t a thread until then and hardly would have become one, so a player on the left who is comfortabel drifting inside and pressing helps to reduce the available space for Reals abundance of playmakers on the field. Wellbeck defended a winger who didn’t really exist instead. And still, Kagawa and Rooney wouldn’t have been a lesseer thread than Wellbeck and RvP on the break. So, what was SAF thinking? If at all… seems like he really lost it there.

My own guess at the time was that Sir Odious would pull off van Persie, either put on Young on the left, or swap Giggs to the left and put on Valencia, leave Wellbeck double-tasking on Alonso and attacking, and probably put fresh legs in midfield to combine working with (presumably) Carrick while trying to get upfield too to combine with Wellbeck.

I still think that was a better plan than what he actually did, which threw away Wellbeck’s excellent work on Alonso-suppression. Daft old bugger.

It will be interesting to see if Real’s style of play evolves in the weeks ahead. Mourinho’s top goal was to surpass Barcelona, and he achived that over the last year. But until the end of the season Real will now face sides trying to emulate Ferguson’s strategy. They do need to improve against negative sides if they want to win the CL, yet alone beat Atletico in la Copa del Rey final.

Everybody agrees that Modric needs to be in the starting XI, but who should he replaced? Di Maria’s injury might give Mourinho a chance to experiment. Ozil could start on the left but without a descent rightback to strech the play Ozil will always bring the ball back to the center. Ramos on the right might be needed as well.

Looking how unhelpful Khedira is in those games (in offense at least), I am amazed that Real Madrid did not try to get Javi Martinez last summer. He has all of Khedira’s quality, while being much more composed with the ball. He would have created a great pair with Alonso. Maybe Mourinho did not want another Spaniard in the squad.

Rhid on March 6, 2013 at 2:23 pm

Michael – I’ve got the same question as KC. Most of the commentary I’ve seen has suggested that United had the upper hand at 11v11, but Real had truckloads more of the ball, and seemed to be cruising. Was this “sterile domination” or actually the basis of control?

super dooper bilbao trooper on March 6, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Bit of both really, they didn’t look particularly threatening and circulated the ball slowly, yet with the quality Madrid have them scoring was always possible.

Still, don’t think it was unreasonable to expect United to progress.

Hope that is in someway helpful, even if it is a complete contradiction!

Steven Smith on March 6, 2013 at 10:42 pm

Personally, I think both dominated in their own ways.

United won the tactical battle at 11v11. Madrid created very little and were often stifled from playing their game.

However, Madrid won the battle of possession. They circulated the ball better and seemed a bit more composed in possession.

However, reading those 2 lines back you’d say United had the upper hand. They didn’t need possession because they had the lead. They also stopped Madrid from shooting freely at goal.

kayode oke on March 6, 2013 at 2:31 pm

I watch these matches for the tactics. Being a madrid fan, I was waiting for Jose’s reaction in this chess-esque battle. I was wondering if he would have removed Arbeloa for Modric; I find the red card particularly painful. Zonalmarking, how do you think Mourinho would have reacted without the red card?

Dimitar on March 6, 2013 at 4:57 pm

Id be interested to know ZonalMarking’s and others their opinon on what Fergie should have done after the Nani red card. (besides rallying the Old Trafford crowd). Mourinho’s introduction of Modric obviously won the tie but what change could Utd reallly have made to hold out with ten men ?

Darrin on March 6, 2013 at 5:53 pm

Mike do you think Manu could’ve played a 4-3-1-1 with the deepest midfielder shifted toward CR7 and letting the right fullback (arbeloa first then khedira)have most of the ball
with the second striker still dropping onto xabi alonso?

First Timer on March 6, 2013 at 7:01 pm

Modric influenced play for a brief period, sure, but his material effect on the outcome lay in a single moment when, from outside the emergency shell United had created in its box, he took a 25 yard shot that, had it been one inch to the right, would have caromed back into the field of play. Barely a causal inevitability of a managerial tactic, IMO.

Four other comments:

1. At 1-0 at the juncture of the red card, there was no logical move Ferguson could make: there were simply too many unknowns, including the strong possibility of extra time. Had he immediately inserted a defensive midfielder and Modric’s bomb still bounces in off the post, United would have been poorly set up to prevail over the remaining fifty-plus minutes (extra time), and we’d be talking about that today.

2. Playing on the pitch a man down for half an hour against the world’s first- or second-most-athletic team is a lot harder than we Wednesday-morning skippers make it seem.

3. Real’s second goal was its best in a long while, and required everything to come off beautifully and perfectly, which it did. Modric was given room to push his pass into the box, but the goal then happened because three players in succession made brilliant plays.

4. When the most important player for the winning side—which had an extra man—was its goalkeeper, I think it’s a slight stretch to talk about Mou’s nous as the difference-maker.

All the CW today sees it like you and ZM, so I offer these thoughts as an outlier.

First Timer on March 6, 2013 at 7:18 pm

The comment above was meant to reply to Yinka’s reply to my original comment, but got posted far below the originals. My bad.

Simon# on March 6, 2013 at 7:30 pm

excellent article as usual. love the formation diagrams explaining what the tv so obviously lack. quite funny Modric scoring after i panned him the other day, but i’ll stick to my opinion for now. always open for change & be proved wrong, but it will take a bit more than that. man utd just have no “clean sheet” confidence. conceding 31 in PL. with 1-0 lead, it shouldn’t be the end of the world v 10 men. as soon as i heard Bayern only conceded 8 lge goals, you know that’s the type of side that can go very far in europe. it just builds belief and scares the opposition. an aside re itv’s coverage, quite staggering how as G POLL pointed out on talksport, that rafael handled on line which could been red card, and penalty, and the disallowed mardid goal in 1st half get totally ignored by pundits in studio both in main prog as well as the after match hi-lites !

simmo on March 6, 2013 at 8:04 pm

Red card was a disgrace. No intent. If its dangerous play then overhead kicks should be banned. However I doubt it influenced the outcome. Real were already pushing utd back. They had far more possession and utd had hardly created anything clear apart from the vidic header. RVP had 2 shots from tight angles and welbeck had a chance from a keeper fumble, that was about it-even the goal was a fluke. Utd worked so hard shutting real down that fatigue was already creeping in before the sending off. Sure the red card didn’t help utd but it was already backs to the wall. Its given fergie an opportunity to deflect attention from the fact that against the very best-barca,real,dortmund,bayern, they are just a little bit short. Ignore mourinhos comments, he doesn’t want to upset his future employers. Real weren’t at their best until kaka and modric came on. Once they changed from counter attack to possession football they were transformed. Ronaldo is pandered to by real playing to his strengths and it hurts the team if he personally isn’t on his A game. Even the great mourinho seems to be toeing the line. Maybe that’s why he’s leaving. Abramovich tried picking the team and mourinho walked. If orders from above are to indulge ronaldo it would explain a lot

Joe90 on March 7, 2013 at 12:31 am

Intent isn’t considered in fouls, only in handballs. They could spraypaint the sky with this and football fans still wouldn’t get it though.

Steven Smith on March 6, 2013 at 9:25 pm

Everyone keeps saying Fergie did a great tactical job (and he did) but when the red card occurred, he made a catalogue of tactical errors that handed the initiative to Madrid.

1) United were leading 1-0 and preserving the lead should have been their priority
2) Trying to keep a second bank of 4 actually weakened United
3) Valencia should have been brought on to exploit the gaps Contraeo left

Instead, Welbeck went wide left and Alonso was allowed to dictate. Keeping with the original plan, the trio of Alonso, Modric and Kaka would have been marked by Welbeck, Cleverley and Carrick.

The 4-4-1 didn’t really help United as a counter attacking force with a 39 right winger and a striker turned makeshift left winger meant to exploit the spaces out wide.

Van Persie was also in a 1 v 3 situation as both centre backs could easily bypass him and pass the ball to Alonso to restart.

Sumit on March 6, 2013 at 10:15 pm

ZM – instead of introducing Modric, Mourinho could have replaced Arbeloa with Benzema, bringing either kaka or ozil to center and pushing khedira to right back. How would tht have differed tactically from introducing Modric? Wouldn’t bringing benzema on, worked better for madrid, they would have had more attacking threat…

Steven Smith on March 6, 2013 at 10:29 pm

Modric played the deep-lying role exceptionally well for Tottenham in his final season.

For me, it comes down to who is naturally suited to playing deeper and hitting long, penetrative balls. Both Kaka and Ozil are naturally trequartistas, players who operate in compact spaces in the hole and have nimble footwork.

It’s not that neither Ozil nor Kaka could have done that job, just that Modric and Alonso are more naturally suited to it.

Bringing on an attacker because you need a goal isn’t necessarily a wise move. Benzema, Higuain, Kaka, Ozil and Ronaldo would have overloaded the box in the bad sense. Two strikers, two trequartistas and an inverted winger, all vying for space.

It wouldn’t have been pretty.

John on March 7, 2013 at 12:09 am

Mourinho was bringing in Benzema when Modric did that fantastic move, I wonder how a manager thinks he needs another player when going 1-0, thinks it’s OK 1-1. He sure was sending Higuaín to the bench, so that’s how football is, decisions, luck and moments. Higuaín did that killer pass Ronaldo transformed it in a goal by just letting the ball hit his foot. The ref didn’t care about the match, he just wanted to show off a little bit too. A totally clean game, very few faults, none of them dangerous enough to earn a yellow card, and in a second he sends off someone. It’s very controversial that even Real-Madrid-alike press called that decision wrong.

John on March 7, 2013 at 2:24 am

Please…why have a ref who clearly wants to be the center of attention…to send Nani off for an innocuous challenge, unintentional, clumsy perhaps…but c’mon….ruin a game…a pure spectacle…this biggest game of the year the most viewed game…ref’s have too much power and it hurts the sport….they should protect the attacking teams…not raise the off side flag so quickly, crack down on he clutching and grabbing (easy calls) that make the defenders jobs so much easier…but a red card ruins a game…forces 1 team to pack it in…what a joke UEFA picks and official that has given 3 reds in 8 games and 30+ yellow. He and they ruined the biggest game of the year…it’s a shame because this official hurt the sport…globally

Patrick on March 7, 2013 at 2:42 am

Quite frankly Mourinho has more world-class players at his disposal than he know how to use. After United going down to 10 men the passing and running between Alonso, Ronaldo, Modric, Kaka, Ozil and Higuain is the best football I’ve seen from Madrid since the Zidane-Figo-Ronaldo era, right up to the point Ozil was replaced by Pepe. RM immediately lost initiative once Ozil is gone.

But hell that 10-15 minutes of play really rivals Xavi-Iniesta-Messi, if not better. Only then I realize RM can actually play better passing football than Barca.

Mourinho really should experiment with Ronaldo-Kaka-Ozil-Modric all on the field at the same time. Practice this combo with the lesser teams in La Liga. They would need all their midfield masters in good shape to defeat Bayern or Dortmund.

This team easily cost RM 500 million euros to assemble and maintain and it can play far better than counter attack football. And we’ve seen how they can perform today.

Alf on March 11, 2013 at 5:47 am

Playing a team who is down a man is naturally going to make your midfield look stellar.

U’ve got Hawk-eye in tennis, Third umpire system in cricket, but nothing in football.I blame it on football fans. We are so used to wrong decisions time and again. We fail to pressurize FIFA or UEFA. The FIFA hierarchy is corrupt.Mohamed Bin Hammam was a whistle blower but he was banned from football. Errors in Football refereeing are outrageous compared to any other sport.
Match fixing is an issue in several sports but I think its rampant in football. The Italian scandal talks about clubs picking referees for their games. U dont have to bribe a player but the referee in a football game unlike other sports where fixing depends on whether players agree or not. Players earn a lot anyways to be talked into fixing in comparison to the referees. Thus controlling outcome of a game is relatively more convenient in football than any other sport.

fusion on March 8, 2013 at 2:59 am

haha. why would ferguson try and prepare for playing with 10 men?
Who would dare to send off a manu player at old trafford.

This was fantastic, because in the CL Manu are no longer the big fish!

And i don’t see the big deal about the red card. It was a red card, albeit one that the receiving team would feel hard done by.

I ask Manu fans this: If it was ramos flykicking around the pitch and catching rvp or giggs etc, can you not just picture Ferguson getting off his seat, walking down to the forth offical and letting go a salvo of abuse for a red card? The amount of times i have seen this has indented the imagery in my mind.

Please. Manu were pressing very physically, and nani had already had a few incidents with arbeloa.
The fact that he immediately went down like he was hurt just adds to his guilt.

Not that he meant it, or was looking at the player before.

11_giggsy_11 on March 8, 2013 at 2:28 pm

In hindsight, I’m still not sure whether Rooney should have started instead of RVP. RVP hasn’t been very efficient self of late and Rooney can be very sloppy at times. I think Ferguson made the right decision to go with Welbeck as Rooney can not do both attacking and man marking in unison well. He didn’t get to grips with Pirlo at the Euros. In the CL final, he got sloppy with marking Busquets and I recall Ferguson more than once in that game trying to get him to wake up in relation to his task on Busquets. Rooney can do either task well (man marking or attacking with somewhere near 100%) but not both at the same time. We’ve seen him lose a lot of his attacking ability when played out on the wing to help out his full backs.

Ref was entitled to give a red card under fifa law 12, but he was also entitled not to. It was down to the ref to interpret whether the foul was careless, reckless or excessive force. He went with the latter, which comes with a red card punishment but I would have gone with one of the previous two, and the punishment would have been at most a yellow card. It was a harsh decision by the ref, very harsh but not necessarily wrong.

No, I don’t think Rafael’s handball was a foul or red card offence. As it is hard to prove it was deliberate, especially when the flight of the ball was changed by a Real player’s head less than a split second before it touched Rafael. Based on the previous flight of the ball, if Rafael had won the header before the Real player, it would have touched his head. So not sure how anyone can say with certainty that it was a deliberate handball. Even if it was, that doesn’t justify the other red card, as each incident should be judged on its own….ideally.

Disappointed that we didn’t react immediately well after the red card. We let the nature of the incident get to our heads and it seems the United bench did too. I just don’t think Ferguson reacted quickly enough after the red card. Naive and costly, if that was the case. Understandable for the players but Ferguson or Rene or Phelan should have been alert straightaway. The freedom Modric got was ridiculous. Should have left the full backs/wing backs alone.

Was pleased with our performance over two legs, apart from the 10-15 minutes after the red card. Nice to see we have re-found some of the tactical know-how from the late 00s.

eskimo on March 10, 2013 at 8:52 pm

don’t you think mourinho should’ve started modric instead of khedira? he came to old trafford needing a goal and according to your graphic, khedira was not marking anyone on the break so perhaps modric could’ve offered more of a threat in possesion and pull cleverly out of the defense to create some space for ronaldo and co.